Jade War

“My father, I know,” said Lott, still staring out the window. The young man was upset and confused, that much Hilo could tell from the persistent churning of his jade aura, though like a typical teenager, he pretended otherwise.

“You’re not much like your da in other ways,” Hilo said.

The young man’s shoulders stiffened. “I’m sorry if I disappoint you, Kaul-jen.”

“That’s not what I said,” said Hilo. “Your father was as green as they come, one of my most fearsome and loyal Fists, let the gods recognize him. But he could be cruel for no reason and he didn’t care for most people. You don’t seem that way to me.”

“I killed those men, didn’t I? I know you brought me along to see how I’d perform.”

Hilo was certain the young man would never speak to the Pillar of the clan with such candid resentment under other circumstances, but he’d taken a life for the first time and was emotional, not knowing the proper way to react. There was no proper way, Hilo knew; people reacted differently. Some threw up, some were exhilarated, others felt nothing.

“You only killed one of them,” Hilo said. “The one you got in the neck, yes, but the other one will live.” He wasn’t certain that was the case, but if it made Lott feel better, there was no harm in saying so. The Finger didn’t answer or even turn his head.

“Lott-jen, look at the Pillar when he speaks to you,” Hilo demanded, his voice sharp.

The young man flinched, in the way of a boy accustomed to punishment, and turned quickly toward Hilo with guilt in his eyes. His expression flickered briefly between doubt and defiance, but he dared not meet Hilo’s commanding stare; he dropped his gaze and murmured, “Forgive my disrespect, Kaul-jen.”

Ever since he’d first met Lott, Hilo had noticed him to be a moody, sulky sort of teen, which could be forgiven for a short while, but the man was a Green Bone now; he had to learn how to behave. Hilo’s eyes did not shift or lose their sternness, but after another minute had passed, he said in a much gentler voice, “I’ll always forgive a friend, because otherwise how could people be honest with each other? I didn’t bring you on this trip to make you prove yourself. I brought you because you stood in front of me ahead of all your classmates last year and took your oaths first—that’s something I’d remember. When it comes to which brothers I want to get to know, which ones I want fighting next to me if it comes to life or death, that sort of thing is important.”

Lott did not look back up, but after a second, he gave a nod and his jade aura settled into a grudging but calmer hum. Hilo turned around in his seat and reached into the cooler to pull out two mango sodas; he opened them and handed one to Lott, who accepted it and drained half the bottle.

Hilo said, “Those men you fought today—you didn’t know them and they’d done you no personal offense. That’s why it bothers you to have killed them. It’s only natural to feel that way; if we didn’t, we’d be no better than animals. There are some people who are like that, of course, even some Green Bones, but thankfully not too many.”

Hilo drank from his own soda bottle. “People are born selfish; babies are the most selfish creatures, even though they’re helpless and wouldn’t survive a day on their own. Growing up and losing that selfishness—that’s what civilization is, that’s what sets us above beasts. If someone harms my brother, they harm me—that’s what our clan oaths are about. Those men weren’t your enemies—they were our enemies. You can understand that, can’t you, Lott Jin?”

The Finger hesitated. “Yes, Kaul-jen.”

Hilo put a warm hand on Lott’s shoulder and left it there for a moment, then rose and went to another seat to give the young man space to be by himself and think. When he’d been Horn, Hilo had considered it a vital part of his job to see to it that new Fingers were coached along, and that those with the most promise were noticed and mentored. He was still unsure about Lott, but he was glad that he’d had this chance to speak to the young man personally; sometimes those few words mattered.

Hilo finished his soda and set the bottle on the empty seat next to him. He leaned his head next to the small window and stared out to the distant horizon. The noise and vibration of the propeller plane droned in his skull. Midway between the Uwiwa Islands and home, there was nothing to see but ocean and more ocean separating Kekon from its nearest neighbors. On the other side of that seemingly endless expanse of water lay the country of Espenia and the city of Port Massy where Anden was now living.

Hilo glanced across the aisle at his blood cousin Teije Runo, still morosely icing his bruised face, and felt a savage desire to push him out of the airplane and watch him fall a long way into the ocean below. When he turned back to the window, Hilo was frowning, and his frown grew deeper and more pensive than the one he’d tried to ease off Lott.

CHAPTER 11 Port Massy